Parents surrendered my cat to kill shelter

When I was in middle school my parents bought me a kitten. She was really sick and I nursed her back to health. Bottle fed her and made she got all her meds. I named her Bella because I was hella obsessed with Twilight lol. But anyway, she was my baby and the best cat. She never destroyed furniture or bit or scratched. She got me all the way through college. After college I was working full time but still living at home with my parents and Bella. Eventually I met my now husband who just so happened to be in the military. We got married and where we were going didn’t allow animals in the apartments. So I asked my parents, can you take care of Bella until we get ready to purchase a home. They were like Omg yes of course, Bella is part of the family after all this time. A few years pass and I end up having two kids. We visit my home often and I love on Bella just like always. My parents express no issues with her and say they love her too. I tell them as soon as we can, we will make the drive (over 10 hours) to transport her to our house. Through texting and phone calls they tell me Bella is fine, she’s good, she’s just old and laying around. My husband got a more permanent position at a base where we won’t have to move anymore. So we decide it’s time to purchase a home. So I call my mom and tell her we are planning the trip to come get Bella. My mom hesitated and eventually told me, they surrendered Bella to a KILL SHELTER over a year ago. They lied to me the entire time and told me she was still fine and healthy and at home. I was like why on earth would you do that? Absolutely bawling. And she told me they didn’t want to take care of her anymore because she was old and having urine leakage and they didn’t think we’d ever come get her. Even though every time we spoke, I told her as soon as we were able to have a permanent home for her, we’d get her. And every time I talked about Bella with them, they assured me they had no issue watching her and caring for her. They lied to me the whole time. This was a while ago, back in 2020. The last time I saw her was 2019 and was planning to come get her that year, that month. Come to find out she had been dead for probably over a year. What’s even more fucked up is that I was still paying for her care. I was still sending my mom monthly money to buy her food/litter/whatever she needed. So I guess in the midst of this lie, my mom just kept the money?!

I know it’s been years but I’m still really upset about it and hold these feelings of resentment towards my parents for this. Why did they lie? Why didn’t they just tell me “come get her or we are getting rid of her”? How can you live with a cat for over 16 years and then just give them to a kill shelter? And feel nothing?

I’ll never understand or forgive it.

RIP my sweet Bella.